Kashmir restricts cable TV, Internet service

Authorities
in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on February 9, 2013, ordered citizens
to remain indoors and restricted mobile Internet service and cable television across
several districts in the lead-up to a controversial execution of a militant
from the region, according to news reports.

The
curfew was imposed in parts of Kashmir hours before the execution of a
convicted militant for his role in the 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian
parliament, news reports said.
Clashes broke out between protesters and police and paramilitary forces after
the execution, and at least two people were reported killed, news reports said.

The
curfew led to the disruption in publication and circulation of nearly 60
newspapers in the state, according
to news reports. Several editors reported being told by
police not to publish, news reports said. Showkat Ahmed Motta, editor of the
English-language Kashmir Reader, said
the paper had printed its Sunday edition, but that police seized the copies and
ordered staff not to publish the paper for four days, the reports said.

A
local police officer denied that any papers had been prevented from publishing,
but said the curfew could have prevented editions from reaching readers, the reports
said.

A
Kashmiri journalist was also briefly detained on February 9, 2013, according to news
reports. Iftikhar Gilani, reporter for Daily
Newsand Analysis and the
son-in-law of a prominent separatist politician in Kashmir, was held for 10
hours by police in the Indian capital, news reports said. The Indian government
criticized the detention.